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Get Windows Phone 8 Style Launcher For Android With Launcher8

Launcher8 is a free app for Android devices which provides a Windows Phone 8 tiled interface, which is the hallmark of the latest Windows based operating systems, including Windows 8. Launcher8 gives Android devices a Metro UI style lockscreen and launcher to give your Android phone the WP8 look.

Launcher8 Overview

After the installation of Launcher8 you might receive a prompt to launch either the default UI of your phone or the Launcher8 interface. Since I’m using an HTC device, I got a prompt to either choose the HTC Sense UI or Launcher8. Select launcher8 UI to proceed further. After the app is activated your Android Lockscreen and Home screen will be completely reinvigorated by the Windows Phone 8 style user interface.

Launcher8 Lock Screen And Home Screen

The below images show the Android Lockscreen (on the left) and Home Screen (on the right) after the installation of Launcher8. After the application is up and running, make sure that you add the respective service to the source of each icon that is displayed on the launcher.

Tile Settings

For example, you will have to tap each icon and select a source application that is to be used for the respective button. The market icon appears like a Windows Phone Store icon, which can be used for launching Google Play (Android Market) by adding it as the source app. You can customize each icon by entering the title, binding an application to the icon, changing the tile color and selecting a respective image for it.

Users can pin multiple tiles to the home screen, with each tile mapped to their desired application, system shortcut, widget, or the Launcher8 tiles for time, lock, gallery and contacts. Coming to the functionality of the app, swiping to left on your home screen displays the application list which can be viewed as a grid, alphabetically or vertically.

During testing, I found the app to be quid smooth in functionality and the experience was pretty much lag free. Once you have all the required source apps mapped to each icon, you might even forget how your original Android UI looked like. While Launcher8 might not be as good as custom Android ROMs, it can give a fresh new look to your Android device, without the need of rooting it or causing unwanted functionality issues which are often accompanied by custom ROMs.